Do I have to clerk? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi All! I'm a current 2L who will be summering at an NYC V10 firm this summer in the firm's litigation department. My hope is to work at this firm after graduation for 3 years or so and then move to a much smaller firm in a different market (I have to be in NYC for 5 more years or so due to my SO's job), or perhaps some kind of in house job there - basically anything with better hours. My summer firm doesn't have an office in my desired lateral market. How essential is it to have a clerkship on my resume for my longer term job prospects? Apologies if I've missed a similar thread somewhere and this post is redundant. Any advise/thoughts are appreciated.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

No

/thread

[Anonymous User]

Haha thanks! Career services makes it sound pretty mandatory, so I really wanted to get some other opinions. Thank you!

[zot1]

No

/thread

[zot1]

Haha thanks! Career services makes it sound pretty mandatory, so I really wanted to get some other opinions. Thank you!

Career services goal =/= your goals.

[Person1111]

It can only help, but it's not mandatory by any means.

[Anonymous User]

I don't even think clerking will help him. Given his future plans, he doesn't need it, and since he only wants to be in NY for a few years, he should try to maximize his income from that time. Clerking is a very large pay cut.

[JusticeJackson]

.

[SemperLegal]

Hi All! I'm a current 2L who will be summering at an NYC V10 firm this summer in the firm's litigation department. My hope is to work at this firm after graduation for 3 years or so and then move to a much smaller firm in a different market (I have to be in NYC for 5 more years or so due to my SO's job), or perhaps some kind of in house job there - basically anything with better hours. My summer firm doesn't have an office in my desired lateral market. How essential is it to have a clerkship on my resume for my longer term job prospects? Apologies if I've missed a similar thread somewhere and this post is redundant. Any advise/thoughts are appreciated.

If you have to be in NY, it's definitely not worth it, you'd have to be in the second circuit (unless you reverse commute) with the strivers working 60 for minimal pay, huge COL and a gold star no-one in your future plans is going to value as much as CDO says. In fact, its negatively valued in house, because its 1-2 years of less experience (and missed networking), and nonlawyers are less impressed with secretaries to judges.

Either way, you spend the next 5 years being miserable, but saving enough to buy a house in your next area.

[bruinfan10]

Hi All! I'm a current 2L who will be summering at an NYC V10 firm this summer in the firm's litigation department. My hope is to work at this firm after graduation for 3 years or so and then move to a much smaller firm in a different market (I have to be in NYC for 5 more years or so due to my SO's job), or perhaps some kind of in house job there - basically anything with better hours. My summer firm doesn't have an office in my desired lateral market. How essential is it to have a clerkship on my resume for my longer term job prospects? Apologies if I've missed a similar thread somewhere and this post is redundant. Any advise/thoughts are appreciated.

If you have to be in NY, it's definitely not worth it, you'd have to be in the second circuit (unless you reverse commute) with the strivers working 60 for minimal pay, huge COL and a gold star no-one in your future plans is going to value as much as CDO says. In fact, its negatively valued in house, because its 1-2 years of less experience (and missed networking), and nonlawyers are less impressed with secretaries to judges.

Either way, you spend the next 5 years being miserable, but saving enough to buy a house in your next area.

um, there are d.ct judges in NJ. and "secretaries to judges?" you clearly never clerked.

I agree with the previous poster who said a clerkship could be a good way to pivot from your current job back to your desired final market.

[totesTheGoat]

Haha thanks! Career services makes it sound pretty mandatory, so I really wanted to get some other opinions. Thank you!

Some career services people use clerkship as synonym for summering. Perhaps they were just talking about that?

[SemperLegal]

Hi All! I'm a current 2L who will be summering at an NYC V10 firm this summer in the firm's litigation department. My hope is to work at this firm after graduation for 3 years or so and then move to a much smaller firm in a different market (I have to be in NYC for 5 more years or so due to my SO's job), or perhaps some kind of in house job there - basically anything with better hours. My summer firm doesn't have an office in my desired lateral market. How essential is it to have a clerkship on my resume for my longer term job prospects? Apologies if I've missed a similar thread somewhere and this post is redundant. Any advise/thoughts are appreciated.

If you have to be in NY, it's definitely not worth it, you'd have to be in the second circuit (unless you reverse commute) with the strivers working 60 for minimal pay, huge COL and a gold star no-one in your future plans is going to value as much as CDO says. In fact, its negatively valued in house, because its 1-2 years of less experience (and missed networking), and nonlawyers are less impressed with secretaries to judges.

Either way, you spend the next 5 years being miserable, but saving enough to buy a house in your next area.

um, there are d.ct judges in NJ. and "secretaries to judges?" you clearly never clerked.

I agree with the previous poster who said a clerkship could be a good way to pivot from your current job back to your desired final market.

He wants to stay in NY for five years and go in house in a smaller market. How does clerking in NY help him make contacts? Clerking in his target is not an option, and small firms/large non-NY based companies aren't impressed (or happy) about mid Atlantic judges telling them how the world works or cashing in non-existent favors to get their friends jobs.

As for what a clerk does, it doesn't matter what I know, or what you know, what matters is what an MBA knows. Doing high stakes litigation for a major Fortune 500 company who is a client and billing thousands of hours a year sounds like good training (but isn't), helping a judge write opinions sounds low-stress and noncorporate, heck it sounds downright academic. Not who I, American executive, need having my back in the no holds-barred world of ___.